Breathing
by Kalio Halos
Summary: (Not a songfic!!!) Kagome is actually sick, and Inu-Yasha is no help at all. He finds himself trying to explain why her breathing brings him comfort. (I/Kg, of course)


'Breathing'

By Kalio

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah... not mine... yakiti-smakiti....

A/n: This is not a songfic, though it is inspired by the song 'Breathing' by Lifehouse. This first started out as a Ranma nibunnoichi fic, but I realized suddenly, that I had never written a postable IY fic. Scary, I know, because of the number of Ranma fics that I have written and posted. Therefore, I decided to change the story (and complete it) to and Inu-Yasha fic. It's a little OOC, so bear with me.

Kagome was really ill. Not the puki sick, but the hacking, coughing, wheezing, throat-raw kind of sick. She could barely breathe, and every inhalation was uncomfortable. So, granted, she was not able to put up a fight when Inu-Yasha picked at her for trying to going home. Instead of a fight, she just sighed, mumbled a few quick sits, and hobbled off to the well. She didn't even respond, other than a wave of a hand, when he yelled 'Bitch!' after her.

That was when Inu-Yasha got really worried.

***

When Inu-Yasha arrived through the well, he went quickly to check on Kagome via her window. He jumped to the roof and swung onto the sill. Peering inside, he saw her sleeping form with red cheeks and wondered if she had a fever. His sharpened ears could hear her wheezing through the window. Carefully, trying to make no noise, he opened and climbed through the window and sat on her desk, watching her.

She shifted lightly in her sleep, and mumbled something indistinguishable and barely audible. A pained look crossed her face, her forehead creasing with tight-shut eyes. Inu-Yasha moved closer, trying to figure out what she was dreaming about. Before he could get close enough to hear her mumblings and comfort her, he sensed a presence coming down the hall. In a flash, he was out of the window, and on the roof.

Kagome's mom knocked on her door and opened it. 'Kagome, soup.' She walked in and noticed that the window was open and the curtains were moving with a slight breeze. 'Oh my!' She walked over to the window and shut it, wondering briefly why her daughter would leave it open when she was so sick.

***

Inu-Yasha fidgeted in the Go-Shinboku tree for the umpteenth time of the night. He couldn't sleep knowing that Kagome was wheezing all by herself in her time. He grunted. It wasn't fair that Pestilence (a/n: ah ha! I knew I could work the 4 horsewomen into here somehow, Draco!) decided to touch Kagome and take her from him for a few days. Hell, he would have preferred to take the sickness himself, though it probably wouldn't have affected him as harshly. He shifted again, trying to decide whether to take out his frustration on the rest of the group, or go see her.

He eventually decided on going to see her, not wishing to kill Miroku by accident. Inu-Yasha quietly snuck to her window, and opened it a crack, seeing her bundled under a ton of blankets. He left the window open, and sat, leaning against her wall.

Inu-Yasha settled himself, listening to her hazy, unsteady, yet consistent breath. He almost fell asleep listening to her breathing. He was hoping that she was starting to recover, and the rhythm of her breathing was comforting to him. He started, though, when Kagome herself had gotten out of bed, sat down beside him, and stared at him until he noticed.

  
  


'Gah!' He yelped rather loudly.

'Shh...don't yell. You'll wake somebody like that,' Kagome whispered.

Inu-Yasha put a hand over his rapidly beating heart. 'Don't DO that! I almost lost my wits' He tried to whisper as loud as he could, not conceding that she had actually scared him.

Kagome decided not to make a comment about his 'wits', and ask her real question. 'What are you doing in my room?'

Inu-Yasha flushed and fumbled for quick words. 'Er... ah... I was kind of worried about you. And I kinda wanted to hear you breathe.'

A look of pure confusion crossed Kagome's face. 'Breathing? Why would you be in MY time, in MY room just to hear me breathe?'

Inu-Yasha, again, groped for the right words. 'Well, I guess... it just brings me... comfort.'

Another baffled look laced its way onto Kagome's face. 'Lemme get this straight-' Her sentence was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit. Inu-Yasha smacked her a few times, gently as he could, on her back. 'You came all the way from your time to sit-' She was again cut short by Dog-boy's short trip to the ground.

'You bitch!' Inu-Yasha whispered loudly, for once remembering to have tact and not wake her family.

'Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it, really!' Kagome tried to apologize to the frazzled hanyou. After a few moments the subduing spell wore off and the said hanyou sat up.

'Well? Continue your question, wench.'

Kagome frowned, but continued, nevertheless. 'So you came to my time, to listen to me breathing cause it brings you COMFORT?!'

Inu-Yasha searched, again, for words to express his true meaning...

'Well, you're not dead if you breath, right?'

...unsuccessfully...

'You always know just what to say, don't you.' Kagome's deadpan look was somehow accentuated by her fever-red cheeks.

'What do you want me to say?! That I'd rather you be dead?!' He couldn't help making a scene, he couldn't cover up his mistake any other conceivable way, being him.

Kagome sighed, not wanting to deal with the moody demon in her current state. 'I dunno, maybe: "I like to listen to your breathing because it makes me happy." Or how about: "I love to hear you breathing because I know that you'll be alright." Or maybe, just maybe: "Your breathing brings me comfort because it's nice to know that when I wake up tomorrow, you will still be here with me." Honestly, any of those would be better than, "you're not dead." !' She fumed, making her fever even higher.

Inu-Yasha took on a guilty look, and then spoke softly, though not in a whisper. 'But Kagome... I meant all of those.'

'Oh, well, would it have been too much to ask to sa-' she cut herself off suddenly realizing what he meant. 'Did you really...?' It was Kagome's turn to feel guilty.

Inu-Yasha slowly nodded his head, and she studied his face a minute, the sighed.

'Well, I'm going back to sleep and definitely back to breathing. If you want, you can stay, but I really need sleep.' Inu-Yasha just looked at her funny, then got a mischievous grin on his face. He scooped her up and brought her over to her bed. (a/n: no! this is not what you think, you hentai!)

'Inu-Yasha! What are you DOING?!' She was a little more than flustered.

Inu-Yasha set her down on her bed, and started to pull the blankets around her. 'Why tucking you in, of course! What else would an "evil" demon do?' He grinned as he made sure she was securely wrapped in blankets. Kagome just stared at him. 'Oh, come on! Like I can't be nice to you when you're sick?' She stared some more. 'Oi! I can be nice! Besides, you can come back with me until you're better, so you need your rest.' When she still didn't say anything, he sighed. 'I do bad, she's mad. I do good, and she just stares at me... at least she didn't say the "s" word..'

Kagome finally snapped out of her stupor. 'I can fix that for ya...' she said with an evil grin.

Inu-Yasha leaned against the wall, settling himself down again. 'Whatever, wench. Just get some sleep so I can hear you breathe...'

Kagome yawned. 'Yeah, yeah. So long as you keep that spiffing window closed.' She turned over, and her breathing slowed as she drifted off to the dreamworld.

Inu-Yasha got up and closed the 'spiffin' window, and took he place by her bed and the wall. He shut his eyes and let himself listen to her breathe. He couldn't hear it as well as he would have liked, but then again, he wouldn't dare get as close to her as he would like. He sighed contentedly, and felt soothed by the her unceasing breathing, knowing that when he awoke the next day, that she would be there, safe and sound, and not surrounded by anyone but family, and of course, him. He smiled contentedly to himself.

*~Owari~*

A/n: So what did you think about my first IY fic? Did I do okay? Be gentle, I don't know the series as well as most of you, so...be gentle... but please review!!!


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